Legacy of the Spirits

1985, 52 mins.

LEGACY OF THE SPIRITS LETTER from audience member

September 28, 1985

Dear Ms. Kramer,

I’m writing to thank you for your film “Legacy of the Spirits” which I saw recently at the Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History. If it weren’t for my reluctance to speak before large crowds, I would have told you personally how moved I was by your work when you invited questions from the audience.

I’m not an anthropologist so my comments are probably uninformed, but I was deeply impressed by your sensitivity and obvious respect for Haitians and Voodoo. Now I pass the IRT 110thstreet stop and see with different eyes the Haitians near there. You opened up another world for me and I am grateful.

I also appreciated your sharing a view of one of the world’s poorest people in a rich and beautiful context – the Haitians’ spiritual life. As a Peace Corps volunteer in the Caribbean I delighted in the vestiges of West African culture that I found in the West Indies. (My 2 year tour of duty pales beside your seven years of dedication and research however.)

Again, thanks for sharing your superb vision of what was for me an invisible world. Good luck with your efforts to confront the false cultural stereotypes so many Americans believe.